Observations on the Inheritance of a Multifactor Color Variation in White- Footed Mice (Peromyscus)

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Abstract
A color variation, termed by author "grizzled," was encountered in 3 probably unrelated individuals of Peromyscus manicnlatus gambelii. The grizzled appearance is not revealed in first pelage, and may not be obvious for 6 months or more after birth. In low-grade individuals, scattered white hairs occur on terminal part of snout; in more pronounced cases, whole top of head may be white; in extreme cases entire body may be affected, though some black hairs always remain. Dorsal tail stripe disappears, but pigmentation of eyes and ears is as pronounced as ever. A considerable variety of matings revealed the following relations: (1) Every grizzled parent bore (or sired) some grizzled offspring, even when mated with normal individuals; (2) every grizzled parent bore (or sired) some non-grizzled offspring; (3) the mean grade of the progeny is correlated with the mean grade of the parents. All of the more extreme cases were derived from parents both showing a high grade of grizzling; (4) all of offspring (only 8) derived from normal X normal matings (these normals having at least 1 grizzled parent) were themselves normal. From foregoing data it is concluded that the character must be dependent on several pairs of mendelian factors, some or all of which are dominant, though incompletely so. Comparisons are made with somewhat analogous pelage conditions found in certain wild subspecies of Peromyscus found in Florida.

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